Shadhika

Reading Time: 21 minutes This edition of the When She Leads will celebrate girl leadership at the forefront of climate action in India. The interview is a conversation between Climate Change Initiative Fellow Nitika, the Initiative’s consultant Sayantoni Dutta, and Vanita Ganesh, Shadhika’s Digital Media Coordinator. Nitika is a Shadhika Scholar with a background in journalism and law. She   

Reading Time: 5 minutes “I did not know that I could do something so big. I decided to try something in my village, and it turned out to be a very big program.” Beauti shares her experience with the group of Shadhika Climate Fellows about the initiative in her village to gain access to clean drinking water. “Years ago,   

Reading Time: 6 minutes Trigger warnings: Instances of types of violence, mentions of sexual abuse and rape. In my short time as a communications professional, working on a program for 16 Days of Activism is often a bittersweet experience. It is a reminder of how far we’ve come and, simultaneously, of how far we have left to go. In 2021,   

Reading Time: 6 minutes This interview is part of our When She Leads series. Learn more. 30 years ago, Shadhika founder Juthica Stangl took the first step in what would become a three-decade-long pursuit of gender justice for women across India. Read more about this incredible journey spanning 30 years and how it came together from Juthica and Peter Stangl. Tell us   

Reading Time: 9 minutes This interview is part of our When She Leads series. Learn more. UNICEF’s call to action for this year’s International Day of the Girl includes “greater attention, investment and action on letting girls lead by putting girls in the forefront of change efforts, hearing their voices, responding to their asks, and welcoming them in decision-making spaces,” among others.   

Reading Time: 8 minutes This interview is part of our When She Leads series. Learn more. Radha is an Independence Coordinator with our Partner Site in Karnataka Baale Mane. Radha was interviewed by Digital Media Coordinator Vanita Ganesh. Could you introduce yourself to Shadhika supporters? I am Radha from Bangalore, currently associated with Baale Mane Trust – Girls’ Home (I don’t want   

Reading Time: 5 minutes ‘Leading from a place of compassion’ may seem like an ambiguous concept, but it surprises us when we see it in action. Perhaps its simplicity surprises us, but if we look around, what seems really profound is really simple. I am sharing this because my recent field visits to Shadhika’s partner organizations were also full   

Reading Time: 6 minutes ‘करुणा की स्थान से नेतृत्व करना’ शब्दों में समझना मुश्किल होता है, लेकिन इसे कार्रवाई में देखकर हमें ताज्जुब होता है। शायद इसकी सादगी हमें चौंका देती है। लेकिन अगर हम अपने चारों ओर देखें, तो बहुत सी गहरी चीजें सबसे सरल चीजें हैं। मैं इसे यहां साझा कर रहा हूं क्योंकि मेरी हाल की   

Reading Time: 2 minutes From across two continents and 6 Indian states, a million phone calls and Zoom calls, and the undaunting spirit of strong women and girls refusing to back off from any challenge: This is what it’s taken to put together Shadhika’s Leaders for Change Summit.  With a week to go till we officially flag off the   

Reading Time: 4 minutes “I want to send my daughter to college but my family wants me to marry her off soon so she won’t be a burden on the family. I don’t have money to take care of her, so I don’t know what to do. I can’t let her dreams be cut short so soon either,” said   

Reading Time: 9 minutes In May 2022 Poonam, a Shadhika Scholar at Milaan Foundation, will graduate from college. Poonam lives in a small city in Madhya Pradesh and commutes 4 hours each day to and from college. Poonam and her mother talk about the significance of her graduation, and all it took to get her to this point.  You’re   

Reading Time: 6 minutes In May 2022, Lekha is graduating from high school. Her family lives in Colorado, but she goes to boarding school on the East Coast. Lekha and her mother Marsha reflect on what this graduation season means for their mother-daughter relationship.  You are graduating at the end of this school year. What are your reflections looking   

Reading Time: 3 minutes Around the world, women and girls are leading in crisis response.  The Muslim female students are standing up for their right to an education at a time when religious violence reaches new heights in India.  Women are leading in the humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine, galvanizing their communities to meet the needs of   

Reading Time: 11 minutes This interview is part of our When She Leads Series. Learn more here. Can you introduce yourself to the Shadhika supporters? Lekha: My name is Lekha Masoudi and I’m a senior at Phillips Exeter Academy, a boarding school in New Hampshire. I’ve lived in Denver, Colorado since I was a baby. I started the Shadhika Club along   

Reading Time: 4 minutes Shadhika’s theory of change is centered around education as the most effective vehicle for people marginalized on the basis of their gender to move out of chronic disenfranchisement and towards self-determination.  In one generation, a young woman with a college degree in India is more likely to find a job in the formal economy and